New improved antibiotics are continually in demand, for the treatment of diseases in man. According to the World Health Organization, more than 95% of the Staphylococcus aureus isolates worldwide are now resistant to penicillin and up to 60% are resistant to methicillin (Breithaupt, H. Nat. Biotechnol. 17(12), 1165–9 (1999). Resistance is spreading from hospital-acquired infections to community-acquired pathogens, such as pneumococci and tuberculosis. The structurally related glycopeptides, vancomycin and teicoplanin, are considered the ultimate antibiotics of choice for treatment of methicillin-resistant S. aureus, but alarmingly, the rate of vancomycin-resistant enterococci has been increasing each year (a. Ginzburg, E.; Namias, N.; Brown, M.; Ball, S.; Hameed, S. M.; Cohn, S. M. Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents, 16 (Suppl.), S39–S42 (2000); b. Chopra, I. J.; Hodgson, B. M.; Poste, G. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., 41, 497–503 (1997)) and there are cases of vancomycin-resistant S. aureus reported in industrial countries (a. Hiramatsu, K.; Hanaki, H.; Curr. Opin. Infect Dis., 11(6), 653–8 (1998); b. Marchese A.; Schito G. C.; Debbia E. A. Journal of Chemotherapy, 12 Suppl 2, 12–4(2000)).
The medical community recognizes that there is an ongoing need for additional antibiotics. The search for new antibiotics which exhibit antibacterial activity against vancomycin-resistant isolates and having structures which are not derivatives of vancomycin are particularly appealing.
Cyan416-A and their ether derivatives are different from the known antibiotics currently used in clinical practice. Some related compounds described in the literature include: Suzuki, S., Hosoe, T., Nazawa, K., Kawai K., Yaguchi, T., Udagawa, S., Antifungal substances against pathogenic fungi, talaroconvolutins, from Talaromyces convolutus, The Journal of Natural Products, 2000, 63 (6), 768; West, R., Van Ness, J., Varming, A., Rassing, B., Biggs, S., Gasper, S., Mackernan, P. A., Piggot, J., ZG-1494a, a novel platelet-activating factor acetyltransferase inhibitor from Penicillium rubrum, The Journal of Antibiotics, 1996, 49 (10), 967. Reported in Japanese Patent Kokai Tokkyo Koho, 2001, JP 2001247574 A2 20010911, Koizumi, F., Hasegawa, K., Ando, K., Ogawa, T., Hara, A., is Antitumor GKK1032 manufacture with Penicillium. 
However, all of the above disclosed compounds are distinct from the present invention.